The Cowboys found yet another overtime victory Tuesday night against the Utah State Aggies, winning 78-76 thanks to a basket from Graham Ike in the final 10 seconds of overtime.
The Wyoming Cowboys are certainly on a roll in recent weeks. A five win roll, to be exact. Tuesday’s victory put them 20-3 overall this season and tied with Boise State at 9-1 in the Mountain West conference.
Head Coach Jeff Linder called the game a contest to see “who’s the toughest cowboy of them all,” and the Cowboys went through plenty of adversity on their way to proving themselves the toughest.
“It’s not a good thing to be ejected, I promise not to do it again.” Linder said. “I’ll probably be sleeping on the couch tonight because of it.”
The Cowboys’ head coach was ejected from the game early in the first half thanks to two technical fouls he received while arguing against another foul on Ike.
The verdict stood for Ike’s third foul, who spent the remaining 16 minutes of the half on the bench.
Assistant Coach Ken DeWeese took Linder’s place for the remainder of the night, and pointed to his ejection as the thing that gave them “that fire” that led them to victory.
DeWeese’s positive outlook on Linder’s ejection was shared by his players as well.
“I think it fires us up and gets us where we’re going,” senior guard Hunter Maldonaldo said. Maldonaldo missed a good portion of the first half because of a twisted ankle, but returned in force to score 23 points throughout the game.
“We just know how much he cares and how much he fights for us,” Ike said about Linder. His head coach returned the sentiment, referring to last season’s game against the University of New Mexico.
That matchup, on Feb. 17, 2021, also saw Linder ejected early on and ended with the Cowboys winning under DeWeese in overtime.
“Two times I’ve gotten ejected in my college career, and both times it’s been for Graham,” Linder said. “I want the team to know that I’ll fight for them.” Linder also expressed his respect for the game’s refereeing staff and his trust in his experienced coaching staff.
Linder may have done the least of the fighting in the Arena-Auditorium, however. The game was one of the closest the Dome of Doom has seen in recent weeks, with the lead changing 17 times and neither team getting further than 10 points ahead at any point.
The eventful first half ended with the Cowboys down by four points 40-36, but a locker room appearance and pep talk by coach-on-hiatus Linder helped the team saddle up for the second half.
The Cowboys hung on and outscored the Aggies 32-28 in the second half, which ended with two good free throws from Ike, tying the game 68-68.
Overtime was almost entirely either led by Wyoming or tied, with Utah only leading by two points for a little over a minute.
Ike and Maldonaldo scored all 10 overtime points for the Cowboys, compared to the Aggies’ 8. The game ended with a missed shot by Utah, which was kept from the Wyoming basket by Brendan Wenzel as the final buzzer went off.
Scoring for the Cowboys was led by none other than sophomore forward Ike himself with 28 points, scored in only 29 minutes of court time.
After Maldonaldo’s 23 points, Drake Jeffereies scored his first double-double with a career-high 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Ike almost matched Jefferies with 12 rebounds, giving good cause for Coach DeWeese to cite rebounds as “making the difference in the game.”
The Cowboys hope to ride onward to another win next Saturday Feb. 12 against San Jose State at the Provident Credit Union Event Center in San Jose, Calif.
They’ll be home again on Saturday, Feb. 19 to face Air Force at 2:00 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.
